As I begin this posting, I glance at the 2028 U.S. Presidential Election clock and see that we have 104 weeks, 2 days, 9 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds left. So I added this widget to the top of the info column on the right. Also, this is the 312th day of 2026, with 53 days left for the year.
Rather than only bask in this euphoria that came on November 3, or rant about how challenged we remain as a nation, let me suggest a path forward. After all, the theme of this blog site is Simple Solutions for Planet Earth and Humanity. The foundation of my thinking can be found in my books on this subject.
Costs, chaos, corruption”: after almost two years spent relentlessly criticizing Donald Trump for failing to address those three, broad political concerns, Democrats won a monumental return to power in Tuesday’s midterm elections that will give them potent new leverage over the president. Now the question becomes: what will they do with it?
While President Donald Trump signaled he was open to working with the new Democratic-controlled Congress, early signs don't look for much cooperation.
- Appointed Stephen Miller as his Chief of Staff.
Democratic leaders and immigration advocates have sharply condemned the pick. Figures like House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Dick Durbin characterized Miller as a dangerous extremist and architect of controversial mass-deportation and immigration policies, warning that the appointment signals total political warfare rather than any attempt at post-midterm governance or compromise. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Then came the public offer of his Press Secretary position to UFC boss Dana White. Joke? Probably.- Say you were Trump, what should you do?
- You are a lame duck and can't run in 2028. Yes, there remains the coup option, but that is another matter.
- How best can you build a case for people to vote for a Republican president and Congress?
- The midterms indicated that tariffs, war with Iran and White House corruption turned the voting public off, so you would want to take steps to eliminate these concerns.
- Maybe still early to gauge what will happen.
No question that Democrats likewise don't have much interest in building a warm working relationship with the White House.
- Sure, at the top, they indicate that there is no room for vengeance and repudiation. They focus on Affordability, but add on accountability.
- No way you can engender cooperation while publicly airing out plans for a broad blue wave of oversight and congressional investigations targeting, specifically, Trump and his family, Elon Musk and other major corporate figures, and the like.
- The Iran War is a good place to start.
- Only Iran wants to become a nuclear power. Even Arab countries fear this prospect. So everyone has a ready-made issue for cooperation. Even Republicans and Democrats.
- Denying funds to Trump to continue the Iran War would weaken the U.S. position in negotiations. This could further strengthen Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz, and exacerbate conditions at that other choke point, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Petroleum prices could go up again.
- Find a way to work together to arrive at an optimal solution. What could this be? I don't know.
- Bipartisan cooperation.
There is much more common ground among the general population than in Washington: 84% of Democrats and 92% of Republicans agree that Congress could find common ground if it shared the views of the people. Voters are clearly eager for bipartisan collaboration.
- Trump's immigration policies did end the in-migration problem from the south. Fund ICE with strings attached.
- Trump did promise to fix Obamacare. Give him credit for reinstating Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits, and reverse medicaid cuts.
- Trump can reaffirm the role of Congress in enacting tariffs. The Supreme Court already reaffirmed this need.
The One Big Beautiful Bill made child care credit permanent. Add provisions as necessary.- We have two drug problems, with drug cartels and pharmaceuticals. Don't combine the two in any way, but give and take in both to arrive at a sounder position for the country and people.
- Work together to raise the tax cap on Social Security.
- There are things about vaccinations that are good and bad. There is a better way to do more good and less bad here.
Collaborate on artificial intelligence. Something has to be done, even AI leaders think so, and we need to get countries like China to universally cooperate.- Forget about impeaching Donald Trump, again (he has already been impeached twice). But there is something about ethics reform that even Republicans like.
Well, a good list to begin working in accord. Personally, I made a rough count, and there will be around 115 new people in the 120th Congress, and, for the first time, at least that number of women Democrats. I remember when I first went to work for the U.S. Senate in 1979.
Soon after the mid-term election, the 96th Congress began meeting on 3January1979 for the final two years of Democrat Jimmy Carter's presidency.
There were problems with inflation, the Iranian Revolution and the 1979 energy crisis. Not much different for conditions affecting the latest midterms, but more serious. For example, cars in long lines needing gasoline. The price of gasoline was $0.39/gallon in 1973 and was up to $0.88/gallon in 1979, or an increase of 126%.
Those 115 new people in Congress will first move into hotels, but will need to find more permanent residency. Today was the beginning orientation day for them.- I recall the difficulty I had when I left my job in laser fusion at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Took a couple of weeks, but found a condo in Fairfax county, where I had to catch a bus to the Metro station, then mass transit to the work.
Safety was a concern, and I rarely came home in daylight. There were receptions, dinners and such where you were obligated to attend for whomever you worked. However, according to this sentence from Google AI, it's more dangerous today.
Overall, while today's homicide and violent crime numbers remain well below the worst historical peaks of the early 1990s, 1979 generally saw fewer total homicides than typical modern years. [1, 2]
- Nothing about a path forward here. Just want to commiserate with those incoming new members of Congress.
Got to close with one more political item. Congressman-elect James Talarico starred on Saturday Night Live last night. He arrives at the end of this clip, and works amicably with Donald Trump.
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